PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs.

MANOLITO TOLENTINO @ "BONG", CARLITO TALA @ "BOY", RODOLFO

MATAWARAN and @ JOHN DOE, accused-appellants.
G.R. No. 87085; February 2, 1993
NOCON
DOCTRINE: For the res gestae rule to apply, the following must be present: That the principal act, the res gestae, be a startling occurrence;;
that the statements were made before the declarant had time to contrive or devise;; and that the statements made must concern the
occurrence in question and their immediately attending circumstances.
FACTS:
1.

This is an appeal from the decision of the RTC convicting all the accused of robbery with multiple homicide and serious physical
injuries.

2.

On November 8, 1983, all the accused entered into the house of a certain Adelaida Ligad, who was at that time not home, by
forcibly breaking a wooden window grill of the comfort room and then demanded from her children the whereabouts of Adelaida's
money.

3.

At that time, the children were accompanied by their cousin, Grace Paule, who was able to recognize all the accused except for
whose face was covered because Tolentino is both her uncle and barriomate.

4.

Tala is a relative of her mother and Matawaran as a barkada of Tala.

5.

When John Doe threatened to stab the children, one of the latter named Geraldine, got so frightened that she revealed where her
mother hid the money.

6.

After Tolentino took the money, he then stabbed Grace Paule and then stabbed the three other children. When Grace recovered,
she cried for help and was then heard by her mother and grandmother.

7.

Adelaida was then informed of such incident and thus rushed to her house.

8.

She asked Geraldine who were responsible for such crime and the latter answered that it was "Bong-Bong" and also mentioned Tala
and Matawaran.

9.

All the children died and Grace was the only survivor who positively identified later on the three accused.

10. Tala now argues that no probative value should be given to the extrajudicial statement of Grace taken by the fiscal while she was
staying in the hospital, since his name and that of Matawaran were not mentioned. Also, the accused assailed the admissibility of
the statement of Geraldine as part of the res gestae.
ISSUE: Whether the trial court erred in admitting the statement of Geraldine? NO.
RULING: The trial court had correctly applied the principle of res gestae, namely: (1) that the principal act, the res gestae, be a startling
occurrence; (2) that the statements were made before the declarant had time to contrive or devise; and (3) that the statements made must
concern the occurrence in question and its immediately attending circumstances 11 which are all present in the case at bar as Geraldine had
named accused-appellant as one of the perpetrators in the commission of the crime immediately after the occurrence of the stabbing incident.
Accused-appellant Carlito Tala also contends that the trial court erred in considering the extrajudicial confession of accused Manolito Tolentino
implicating him in the crime charged in the face of the subsequent admission by Manolito Tolentino that he was alone when he committed said
crime.
We agree with the appellant on this point. The extrajudicial confession of Tolentino cannot be used against appellant under the principle of res
inter alios acta unless accused is discharge from the information and made a state witness.
At any rate, the evidence on record, by itself is sufficient in proving accused-appellant's guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
DISPOSITIVE PORTION: WHEREFORE, the judgment appealed from is hereby AFFIRMED with the sole modification that the indemnity to be
paid by the accused-appellant Carlito Tala to the heirs of each victim is increased to P50,000.00 in accordance with the recent jurisprudence of
this Court.